Studying physical properties of light and the interaction of light and matter is the field of optics. The communication devices of the future will be faster (e.g. no pause while streaming YouTube) by transporting light photons instead of electricity. The direction and amplitude of light is manipulated by discrete components such as waveguides, optical switches, optical modulators, and other optical analogs of current electronic technology. Massive integration of discrete components is what made the supercomputer of 40 yrs ago become the laptop of today. Likewise, CIAN's research vision is to create the "PC" equivalent of the optical access network for telecommunications. Please come join us! Optics needs the best and brightest students to move scientific discovery and progress forward.